Preservative Free

M. and I joined a CSA. I'd never heard of it before. Community Supported Agriculture is a concept where community members purchase shares in a small farm's anticipated harvest. That way some cash is infused into the farm's operations early on, and the risk of the harvest is distributed among shareholders. Tuesday's share was a tasty delivery. It featured a mixture of greens including arugula, Anis hysop, and Basil. There were cucumbers, peppers, and shallots. We had also purchased a share of eggs every other week so we got a dozen. There were no tomatoes because the blight virus had claimed most of the crop, but that's just part of the risk we accept. Our farmer's estimation is that many of the tomato plants purchased at big box stores have brought the virus in from distant communities, and it has spread to local plants. Fortunately the virus doesn't winter.

The first meal we made with the haul was a Spanish tortilla: a fritatta of eggs, red potatoes, shallots, and some jalapeno peppers I had gotten from a friend at work. The eggs had a great bright orange hue to the yolks, and the vegetables were all so crisp. I don't get too worked up about dirt, impurities, or other stuff in my food. I figure, if you never get the little doses of that stuff bit by bit, the first time your system experiences it it will lay you out flat. Still, it was good to know that we weren't eating chemicals, preservatives, steroids, antibiotics, high fructose corn syrup or any of the other garbage that gets mixed into processed supermarket food. I'm not ready to go completely off the grid, but it was a great dish!